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glatten gisten" atnt @titre WILLAM STP-EVELL, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY,l AND GEORGE B.

KERPER AND SDNEY B. WELLS, OF NEW YORK',

Letters Patent No. 73,848, dated January 28, 1868.

vIMPROVED LEATHER A:BlijLl'INt'ir.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Beit known that we, VILLIAM STREVELL, of Jersey City, Hudson county, New Jersey, and GEORGE B. KERPER and SIDNEY B. WELLS, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new 4and improved Leather Belting; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and citact description thereoi', which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. i

To all persons conversant with or engaged in the manufacture of belting or banding for machinery from leather, it is well known, among other things, that,"first, the surface or face of the hide, which is in contact with or lies next to the iiesh of the animal, is the most firm, strong, and tough', and consequently the most durable and serviceable for wear in the use and the runningof the belt made from such hide; that, second, of the two ends to the hide, the butt is the Aheaviest and firmest, and the neck or shoulder the lightest and least firm; that, third, the back portion is more firm thanthe belly portiongthat, fourth, in consequence of such difference in the strength and firmness ot the side, at its two ends, and at its back and belly portions, it becomes and has heretofore always been necessary', by the ordinary'and common method of manufacturing leather belting, to' dispense with and thus to waste a considerable portion of the hide or leather side, in order that the belt produced thereby may have the uniformity of thickness or strength and firmness in all its parts, requisite for its perfect and str-aight running; and that, iii'th, in stretching the leather side, whether -it has been previously cut into a belt or belts, or not, the tendency of the leather is to spring or shrink inward on the one, or back edge, and to swell outward on the other, or belly edge, between its two ends, thus necessitating a considerable waste by thc cutting of the belt along-its length to give the desired straightness to' its'edges.

To obviate the waste of leather heretofore experienced in the manufacture of belti'ng from a. side of leather, owing to the characteristics or features which it possesses, as just above recited, and to secure thegrea-test possible amount ot' strength and firmness to the belt by making use of the well-known fact that the face of the side that is in contact with the iiesh is the strongest and the most firm, are the objects of the present invention, and are successfully and practically securedthereby. v

To accomplish the above objects, the present invention c onsistsy First, in forming a leather belt, by either splitting the side from which it is to be made, in'the direction ofand for the whole of its length, from end to end, and the securing or attaching to such side, by means of cement or any other suitable adhesive material, or.by rivets orany other proper fastening-devices, or by both,` the leather so split off, but with' it reversed in position, or, in other words, with its butt and its neck ends, and with its belly and its back portions respectively to the neck and butt ends, and to the back and belly portions of the leather side; or, by securing to such side a split from another side with the ends and belly and hack portions ofthe split in the same positions-relatively to the ends and belly and back portions of the side, to that just. above stated, whereby, in either case, uniform strength, firmness, andsubstance are imparted to all parts of the leather side or belt thus produced therefrom, and all waste consequently obviated, whether result# ing from the shrinking or springing'of theleather, by stretching, or occasioned by the necessary waste to the leather side from its variations in thickness and firmness, when manufactured into leather belting according to the mode heretofore in common use. v

Second, in forming a belt from leather, by securing, either with cement or any other suitable adhesive material, or by rivets or other fastening-devices, or by both, or in any proper manner, to that face or surface of a side of leather which was in contact with the iesh of the animal, a splitv of' leather, taken or cut from another leather side, and embracing the corresponding or iiesh contact portion or face of such side, whether such. split be placed in the reversed position with reference to the leather or side, as has been hereinabovestated as forming the first part ot' the present invention, or not, whereby is combined in one and the same belt, double strength and'rmncss, and consequcntiy its wear and durability in a corresponding degree increased.

Having thus in general terms stated the objects and principles ot' the present invention, we will now pro ceed to describe the same in detail, reference being had to the accompanying plateiof drawings, in which--L -Figure 1 is-a view of a portion of a leather side, and v Figure f? a viewpof a`split, which may either be from the side shown in fig. l, or not, which figure, as well as fig. 1, is marked atvits ends and at its side edges, to indicate the supposed location of the butt, neck, belly, and back portions thereto, and .Y

Figure 3 a section through a portion of a belt, in the direction of its length, formed by thc peculiar combination of a side and a split that this invention embraces, which figure is suitably marked to more fully illustrate the reverse position of the butt and neck ends respectively to the side and split.

In making a belt according to the first part of the present invention, a leather idc is first taken, and to it, either by rst cutting therefrom a slit, or by cutting from another side a split, a split is then secured by means of cement or any other suitable adhesive material, or by rivets or any other proper fastening-devices, or both or in any other suitablemanner, with such a split reversed in position, with reference to the leather side, or, in other words, with its butt and its neck ends, and its back and its belly portions in contact with the opposite 'ends .and portionsof the side respectively, as, for instance, butt to neck, neck to butt, belly to back, and back to belly.

To make a'belt according to the second part of the present invention, to a leather side, and upon the inside or lesh surface, secure in any suitable manner, and by any proper means, a split from another leather side and from the corresponding face or iiesh surface of'such side, to that of the leather 'side to which it is to be applied.-

It may be here observed that the attachment ofthe split to the leather side, according to either one or bothl of the parts to the present invention, may be done before or after the leather is cut into strips and stretched, but that it is preferable-to do it before, as in that way the loss .by shrinking or springing of the leather sides or splits along their edges between the two ends is avoided, owing to the fact that the reverse positions of the side and split neutralize or compensate, in shrinking and springing, the one for the other. That, furthermore, it is not necessary that a split should be employed of a corresponding length to that of the side, or that the split must be continuous, and cover the entire and whole length or breadth or 'width of the leather side, as it is plainly obvious to all' conversant with the manufacture of leather beltiug, that, oftentimes, detached pieces will be ali-suiicientto produce a'belt of the desired build according to the present invention.

In-conclusion, it may be here remarked, that by the combination of a split with a leather side, according `to the second part of our invention, more particularly, we are enabled to use sides of leather, which, according to the old inode of manufacturing leather belting, were entirely unserviceablc or unfit, owing to their thinness; and that, furthermore, by such combination of a side anda split, a belt is produced possessing unequal ii Anot a greater amount of strength and durability than a solid belt or side of a corresponding thickness thereto, from the fact that as the split is from the flesh side of .a leather side, a double thickness of such portion of leather is secured thereby to the belt.

I Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A leather belt, produced by combiningwith'a side. a. split, whether such split is from the same or a different side, and whetheritbe continuous or in detached pieces, as described. v

2. -We also claim a. Aleather belt produced by combining with the inner or liesh surface of a loathe!` side, a split from the corresponding or the esh surface of another side, as described.

The above specification of our' invention, signed by us, this 22d day of April, 1867:

WM. STREVELL GEORGE B. KERPER, SIDNEYB. WELLS.

Witnesses:

ALX. F. RoBEurs, i J. W. B. CovrNeroN. 

